Holiday Card from Paper Pumpkin

Good morning, lovelies!  I wanted to share another holiday card that I made using the October 2021 Peaceful Christmas Paper Pumpkin kit.  I have to admit that I have quite a collection of Paper Pumpkin kits that I have not used, but I couldn't resist this one, as it is so beautiful!  

I don't often use kits, but I have to admit, that I love how quick and easy it is to crank out some beautiful projects.   I love that everything you need is provided, including the adhesives and envelopes.   

I do like to make my kit go a little further, so I did cut the provided card base into two card panels, and I used a solid red card base.  All of the other aspects of the card are exactly as it came in the kit.  

I just wish that the photos showed the shimmer and sparkle on the card a bit better.  The card panel has a lovely metallic silver sheen and the embellishments look like frosty little opals. 

I can't believe that Christmas is nearly here!  Please drop me a comment and let me know if you have done any holiday baking this year and if so, what is your favorite holiday treat! 

As always thanks for stopping in!  Xo, Kim

Guest Designer - Make the Cards Challenge #26 - Slimlime Sketch Challenge

Good morning, friends!  Today, I am so excited to be a Guest Designer for the Make the Cards Challenge #26! 

 This week's challenge is a Slimline Sketch and it was so much fun to work with!  

When I saw the sketch, a ton of ideas started popping into my brain.  I just had to use the Forever Fern Bundle from Stampin' Up to make a mini slimline card.  It is one of my absolute favorites, and probably one of my most under-utilized.  How sad is that?!  I really love mini slimline, as they are small but mighty! 

To start, I cut my card base to 6 1/2" x 6 1/4".  I scored the card base (on the 6 1/2" side) at 3 1/2".  I trimmed a second panel to 3" x 6 1/4".  I dry embossed the panel and set it aside.  

I cut three strips of alcohol marker friendly card stock to 1/4" x 4" and colored them using my alcohol markers, again, setting them aside.  I then stamped two circle images from the retired Circle Celebration stamp set and punched them out.  

I stamped several of the foliage images and die-cut them with the coordinating dies.  I then die-cut the strip for my sentiment from black card stock and heat embossed my sentiment in white. 

With all of my card elements ready to go, I began assembling it.  I adhered by embossed panel to the card base, and then I attached my colored strips, leaving some overhang on each side of the card.  I did this so that I could trim both sides.  Sometime when coloring strips, there is a bit of uneven coverage at the ends of the strips, so this allows me to trim that off.  

I decided where I wanted to place my circles and then arranged my foliage until I was pleased.  I adhered all of those elements in place and I still wasn't quite happy with the card.  I tested out a loopy bow made from metallic thread under the sentiment, and realized that it was exactly what the card needed. I added a mini glue dot under the knot and then popped my sentiment strip up using a double layer of mini dimensionals (foam squares) to allow space for the knot and let the strip lay flat.  

I had so much fun creating this card!  I hope that you will join us and create something to play along this week!  Be sure to use #mttc26 and #makethecardschallenge when posting to your social media so that we can see your creations! 

Products Used:

• Recollections 110# Card Stock:  Black, White
• Spectrum Noir Premium Ultrasmooth Card Stock:  White
• Stampin' Up Forever Fern Stamps and Dies
• Stampin' Up Circle Celebration Stamp Set (Retired)
• Altenew Sentiment Strips Stamp Set
• Stampin' Up Dainty Diamonds Embossing Folder (Retired)
• Kindred Stamps  Sentiment Strips Dies
• Stampin' Up Circle Punches:  2", 1 1/2" (Retired)
• Altenew Crisp Dye Ink:  Dew Drops, Teal Caves, Pinkalicious
• Altenew Artist Markers:  B536, C005, C007
• Memento Ink:  Tuxedo Black
• Versamark Watermark Ink Pad
• Wow! Embossing Powder:  Opaque Bright White
• Metallic Black Thread
• Stampin' Up Mini Dimensionals 
• Mini Glue Dots

As always, thank you so much for taking time to stop by!  Please be sure to leave a comment and let me know what you think!  Also, let me know if you decide to play along so that I can come and visit your post! 

Have a great day and happy stamping!  ❤

Seasonal Scene Building - AECP Level 1

 Happy Sunday, friends!  I hope that you are having an amazing weekend.  We took some time away from the farm yesterday and went and got muddy.  We took our UTV out on the trail with friends.  It was a great day and thankfully, the weather held.  Today, not so much.  

 I digress, though, as this isn't about my outdoor adventures.  Today, I am sharing with you my project for the Seasonal Scene Building course.  This is my last course for Level One of the Altenew Educator Program.  I will have to submit a final project and then I can move on to Level Two. 

I have to admit that I saved this course for last, because I knew it would be challenging and it might take me a while to come up with a project that I was happy with it.  To be honest, I was really intimidated.  I wanted plenty of time to practice, and I am so happy with the results! 

My project is focused on Lesson 1 which covers building a scene on one layer using multiple stamps, masking, and a stamp positioning tool.  I was saving the Altenew Camp Time stamp set for this project, and I had some ideas of how I wanted to approach this.  I knew I wanted a campfire in my scene as so many of my best memories are time spent around the fire with friends and family.  I also wanted to use alcohol markers to color in my images, so I began by swatching my markers to determine the colors I wanted to use.  I ended up not using a few of the colors that I swatched, as I didn't care for them.  That is really the point of the process.  Better to take the few minutes to swatch the colors, than to find that the color pallette isn't what I wanted halfway through coloring my scene and wasting all of the effort. 

Next, I began to design my scene.  I determined what images that I wanted to have in the forefront (in this scene, the thermos and the campfire), and created masks of those images by stamping them on copy paper and fussy cutting them.  I then chose the next image that would be placed (the chair) and created a mask for it.   I almost regretted my decision to use the chair, as fussy cutting it was brutal.  Because I wanted the rocks and grass to show behind the chair, I had to cut out all of the inner areas of the chair frame.  It took ages, as I am the world's worst fussy cutter, but it was well worth the effort.

Once I had my masks ready to go, I began to arrange my images as I wanted them to appear in my scene.  I placed the campfire and thermos images in place on my stamp positioning tool first, as they would be the first images to be stamped.  I then laid the chair in place, followed by the landscape images.  Once I had them exactly where I wanted them to be on my card panel, I removed all but the campfire and the thermos.  Before wasting a sheet of card stock, I practiced  on a piece of copy paper to make sure that I was happy with how my scene looked.  This allowed me to adjust the placement of my images. 

When I was satisfied, I followed the same process, and this time, stamped the campfire and thermos on my card panel.  I adhered my masks using some temporary adhesive and stamped the chair.  I adhered the mask over the chair and stamped the rocks and grass.  I removed the masks and set the panel aside to give the ink time to dry to avoid any smearing of the ink.  I then colored in my images with alcohol markers. 

Once I was finished coloring, I decided there was too much white space, so I added some ink splatters using a few of my grey markers.  I stamped my sentiments from the Altenew Peaceful Serenity stamp set.  Lastly, I trimmed down my panel and adhered it to a black panel, and then to the card base. 

Lessons Learned:

• Swatching is a huge time and frustration saver.
• Taking the time to create my scene on scrap paper, saved me a lot of frustration, as I ended up needing to adjust the image placement.
• This process really required me to think about what I was doing and in what order.  I kept placing my images down in the order that they appear on the card, rather than the order they needed to be stamped in.  

Products Used:

• Recollections 110# Card Stock: White
• Spectrum Noir Premium Ultra Smooth Card Stock:  White
• Black Card Stock
• Altenew Camp Time Stamp Set
• Altenew Peaceful Serenity Stamp Set
• Memento Ink: Tuxedo Black
• Stampin' Up Stampin' Blends (Light and Dark):  Gray Granite, Smoky Slate, Mossy Meadow, Old Olive, Mango Melody, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red
• Spectrum Noir Illustrator Markers:  TB2. TB3, TB4, MB1, MB3, DG1, DG2, DG3, EB2, EB4, EB6, True Black
• Tombow Adhesive

As always, thanks for dropping in!  Happy stamping! 

Let It Shine - AECP Level 1

Happy Saturday!  I hope you are enjoying your weekend and that wherever you are, you got a bit of sunshine!  Today, I am excited to share with you some of the cards that I made for the next class I have taken for the Altenew Educator Certification Program - Let It Shine. 

 This class is all about adding sparkle and shine to your projects and I absolutely LOVED it!  I learned several new techniques, including some that I had completely avoided because I thought you needed special equipment to do it.  I was wrong!  We worked with glitter, specialty card stock, foils, and embossing powders to name a few.  I will let you in on a secret...  The first lesson focused on glitters and it gave me hives!  I just couldn’t bring myself to break out the glitter, but I did find several alternatives to the messy stuff.  

Some of these lessons were truly magical for me!  For my first card, I focused on Lesson 4 - Shimmer and Sparkle Pens.  I love any reason to break out my Wink of Stella pens. I started with a white card panel and using the largest die from Stampin’ Up’s Brilliant Wings dies, I embossed the panel.  I then painted all over the raised edges with my Wink of Stella pen and set it aside to dry. Using the Altenew Halftone Smile stamps and dies, I created an ombré sentiment.  This stamp already gives you a bit of an ombré look; however, I wanted it to be more pronounced, so I inked the entire stamp with Altenew Petal Pink and stamped it on a scrap of white.  Using a cosmetic sponge, I inked the lower 2/3 of the stamp using Coral Bliss and stamped it, and then using the same sponge, I inked the lower third of the stamp in Crimson.  I then die-cut my sentiment using the coordinating die.  I heat-embossed the remainder of my sentiment in white on a strip of vellum.

I adhered my butterfly panel to a strip of Stampin’ Up’s Butterfly Bijou Designer Series Paper, and then adhered the entire panel to my card base. I determined where my “Smile” sentiment would be placed on my vellum and I attached the vellum to the card panel by placing small dots of glue behind where the sentiment would be so that it didn’t show.  I then glued down my large sentiment and finished it off with some sequins. 

For my second (and favorite) card, I was a day late for St. Patrick’s Day, but seeing all the wonderful green cards posted on social media must have inspired me, because I just knew I needed to work with greens,  I was really struggling with this card, which focused on Lesson 5 - Metallic Paper.  It wasn’t coming together the way that I had hoped, and then I saw that Nicole at Pixel Maven’s Retreat had posted a sketch challenge, and the pieces all fell into place. 

I didn’t follow the sketch exactly, but it was fairly close.  I actually began my card with the sentiment and then selected components to go with it.  I used the Altenew Bold Thanks dies, and cut the background die from a scrap of Rose Gold card stock.  I cut the letters from a scrap of white.  I then taped them back into the negative space, and using my Stampin’ Blends in Granny Apple Green, (both light and dark) I colored the letters in starting with the light on the left and gradually getting darker as I moved to the right.  I then glued the letters into place on the background.  

I took a small white panel and adhered it to a slightly larger lime green panel of card stock. I then cut several banners out of various card stocks and printed papers.  I lined them up on my white panel and placed a piece of Press N Seal over them to keep them in place for adhering to the card panel.  This technique was a game changer for me,  I don’t know how I had never used it before.  

I wrapped some Altenew Metallic Thread around the entire panel a few times and added a loopy bow. I then adhered the panel to my card base, and added my sentiment, which is popped up with some foam squares. 

My final card was a lot of fun to make, but it was the most involved.  For this card, I focused on Lesson 6 -Foils. I love this because I learned how to use foils without any other supplies than what I have on hand - no additional equipment required.  I started with two narrow panels of white, but the same size.  From one, I cut a square window using Stampin’ Up’s Layering Square dies.  Using that as a template on the second panel, I marked the edges of my square faintly with a pencil.  I then used my Zig Two-Way Glue pen to add polka dots to the area.  I let the glue dry until it was tacky, placed a sheet of foil (not kitchen foil) over it and ran it through my die-cutting machine to add pressure.  I then peeled the foil sheet away and was amazed by how beautifully the foil had transferred to the card stock.  I also love how the polka dots are not uniform.

I cut my sentiment using the Altenew Waterbrush Hello die.  I taped the die-cut sentiment in to the negative space and using my ink blending tool, I created an ombré effect with Dew Drops, Aqualicious, and Galactic Stream.  I then inked up the lower portion of the sentiment with my Versamark pen and heat embossed it using Wow Vintage Peacock embossing powder. 

I added a square frame cut from a deep teal card stock and attached it behind my window.  Using foam tape (I am really not a fan of the stuff that I have here as it is terribly sticky), I attached it to my foiled panel.  I adhered a panel of brushed silver metallic card stock to a panel of the same teal (unfortunately, the photo does not do the color justice.  No matter what I did, the color would not come out true), and attached them to my card base.  I then attached my white window panel.  I added some foam strips to my sentiment and attached it.  Lastly, I added some clear sequins. 

Key Learnings:

• Loose glitter isn’t the only way to add sparkle!  
• You don’t need special equipment to foil your project.
• A little bit of sparkle goes a long way to dress up your card.

Products Used

• Recollections 110# White Card Stock
• Recollections Shimmer Metallic Card Stock:  Brushed Silver, Rose Gold
• Smpin’ Up Designer Series Paper:  Butterfly Bijou, Oh So Ombré, Berry Delightful
• Stampin’ Up Brilliant Wings Dies
• Altenew Halftone Smile Stamps and Dies
• Altenew Bold Thanks Dies
• Altenew Waterbrush Hello Die
• Stampin’ Up Layering Squares Dies
• Altenew Crisp Dye Ink:  Petal Pink, Coral Bliss, Crimson, Dew Drops, Aqualicious, Galactic Stream
• Versamark Pad
• Versamark Pen
• Wow Embossing Powder:  Opaque Bright White, Vintage Peacock
• Wink of Stella PenAltenew Metallic Thread
• Simon Says Samp Clear Sequins
• Zig Two-Way Glue
• Deco Foil Transfer Sheet :  Silver

I hope that you have found something that inspires you!  Thank your for popping by.  Happy stamping!

A very special birthday card

 Oh my goodness!  I don’t know about you, but I am glad this Monday is over.  I wanted to share with you this birthday card that I made for my bestie!  She is one of the most amazing women I know, and I am so blessed that I get to call her my friend and mentor.  I wanted something spectacular for her and I am so pleased with how her card turned out.

I started with a 4.25” x 5.5” panel of Spectrum Noir Ultra Smooth Premium White card stock, as I would be coloring my images using alcohol ink markers.  It is so important to use the right paper when using alcohol inks to prevent bleeding.  Trust me, I learned the hard way! 

I wanted to make a cluster of peonies in the upper corner of my card, so using the Altenew Beautiful Peony stamp set, I stamped my first flower in Altenew Permanent Black Ink.  Using the coordinating Beautiful Peony Mask stencils, I laid down the mask and stamped my second flower.  I love the mask stencils, as they allow you to “tuck images” behind one another without your images getting muddied. I did the same with my second flower and added my leaves.  Once my ink was dry, I colored my images using Stampin’ Up’s Stampin’ Blends.  I love alcohol ink markers, as they really allow you to achieve beautifully shaded images. For this card I used both the light and dark shades of Melon Mambo, Flirty Flamingo, Mango Melody, and Granny Apple Green. 

Once again, I masked my images and I smooshed some black ink onto an acrylic block.  I added a bit of water and picked up the ink on a paint brush and added ink splatters to my panel and set it aside to dry.  I cut a 4.25” x 5.5” panel of black card stock and adhered it to my card base.  I used some scrap black card stock to emboss my sentiments in silver, using the Opposites Attract stamps and coordinating dies from The Greetery.  I added a piece of Altenew Silver Glitter Tape to my black panel and trimmed down my stamped panel and adhered it to the card base, leaving just a thin strip of silver.  To complete my card, I tied a wispy bow from Altenew’s Metallic Thread in Silky Lilac and placed it on my card front and adhered my sentiments to the card.

Products Used:

• Recollections 110# White Card Stock
• Recollections 65# Black Card Stock
• Spectrum Noir Ultra Smooth Premium White Card Stock
• Altenew Beautiful Peony Stamp Set 
• Altenew Beautiful Peony Mask Stencils
• Altenew Crisp Dye Ink: Permanent Black
• Stampin’ Up Stampin’ Blends:  Melon Mambo, Flirty Flamingo, Mango Melody, Granny Apple Green
• Altenew Silver Glitter Tape
• Altenew Metallic Thread:  Silky Lilac
• Stampin’ Up Silver Embossing Powder

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Happy Stamping! 

 

Easy Die-Cutting Techniques - AECP Level 1

Good evening!  I hope that you have had a great weekend and managed to find time to do something you love.  Tonight, I am sharing a few projects that I completed for the next course in my AECP journey - Easy Die-Cutting Techniques with Yana  Smakula.  If you are not familiar with her work, you need to be!  Seriously! 

I really enjoyed this course.  I learned several new techniques and had a lot of fun experimenting with them. Some of these techniques blew my mind - I learned several new ways to use the supplies I have on hand that I never would have thought of.

In Lesson 1, we focused on using stamps and coordinating dies in the traditional manner.  I took my inspiration from Yana’s sample, using vellum for the die-cut images, rather than card stock. 

I began by heat Embossing the single flower and a few leaves from Altenew’s Vintage Garden stamp set in white on vellum.  I added Bamboo and Dew Drops ink to the vellum on the back using my ink-blending tool and set them aside to dry.  I cut a 4.25” x 5.5” panel of pale blue card stock that I had on hand.  Using the coordinating dies, I die-cut my embossed images and set them aside.

I cut a 1” x 5.5” strip of brushed silver metallic card stock and another white panel that was 3.25” x 5.5”.  I smooshed (I just love that word) some Teal Cave ink onto an acrylic block and picked the ink up with a wet paint brush, which I used to splatter onto the smallest white panel. Once my splatters were dry, I heat embossed my sentiments from the Altenew Fresh Cut Roses stamp set in silver. 

To complete my card, I adhered the blue panel to my card base, and adhered my silver strip followed by the sentiment panel.  I added a small amount of Bearly Art Precision Craft Glue to the backside of the vellum images where it would be hidden by the embossing and attached them to my card front. To add some dimension, I added some Honey Bee Stamps Clear Dew Drops.  Lastly, I trimmed my vellum flowers along the edges with scissors.

In Lesson 4, we learned how to emboss with our dies.  I didn’t even know that was a thing!  I am so excited about the avenues that this will open up, as I love embossed images, but don’t always have just the right embossing folder.  That is no longer a concern.

For this lesson, I made a small note card.  I wanted to use a watercolor panel, so I pulled out my liquid watercolors from Pink Fresh Studios and created a watercolor wash on a piece of watercolor paper.  Once it was dry, I embossed the panel using the Altenew Dog Rose Panel A Die.  I trimmed it down and adhered it to a 3” x 4.25” card base.

I did-cut a “hello” sentiment in black from the Altenew Signature Words Dies and glued it to my card front and finished with a few Black enamel dots,  This was a really quick and easy note card to whip up.

My last card is from Lesson 5 - Inlaid Die-Cutting.  Again, this is a technique that I had never tried, but I really enjoyed it. 

For this card, I began with a 4.25” x 5.5” white panel.  I stamped the outline of the leaf image from the Altenew Crown Bloom stamp set in black ink.  I stamped the solid image in Frayed Leaf and the two detail images in Forest Glade and Evergreen,  I filled in some of the white space with the littlest stamp. On a scrap piece of card stock, I stamped the outline of the flower, the solid image in Pink Pearl, the next image in Coral Bliss, and the center images in Arctic and Iceberg.

I die-cut the flower using the coordinating dies and set it aside. I then die-cut two of the leaves from the stamped panel and set the leaves aside. 

I adhered the stamped panel (minus the leaves that I die-cut out) to the card front.  I then added some foam squares to the leaves and placed them back into the same spot that I cut them from. I embossed the Happy Birthday sentiments from The Greetery’s Opposites Attract stamp set and die-cut the “happy” using the coordinating dies.   I adhered my sentiment strip and added foam squares to the back of the flower image and the “happy” sentiment and popped them up.

Key Learnings:

• Pay attention to the supplies you have on hand.  They can be used in so many different ways!
• When stamping and die-cutting, don’t limit yourself to just card stock.  There are all sorts of different surfaces that can be used.

Products Used:

• Recollections 110# White Cardstock
• Recollections 65# Black Card Stock
• Recollections Brushed Silver Metallic Card Stock
• Neenah 80# White Card Stock
• Arches 300g/140# Cold Pressed Watercolor Paper
• Vellum
• Altenew Vintage Garden Stamps and Dies
• Altenew Crown Bloom Stamps and Dies
• Altenew Fresh Cut Roses Stamp Set
• The Greetery Opposites Attract Stamps and Dies
• Altenew Signature Words Dies
• Altenew Dog Rose Panel A Die
• Altenew Crisp Dye Ink:  Permanent Black, Bamboo, Dew Drops, Teal Cave, Frayed Leaf, Forest Glade, Evergreen, Pink Pearl, Coral Bliss, Arctic, Iceberg
• PinkFresh Studio Liquid Watercolor: Bubblegum and Lavender
• Stampin’ Up Black Enamel Dots
• Honey Bee Stamps Clear Dew Drops
• Foam Squares
• Bearly Art Precision Craft Glue

As always, thanks for dropping by!  Happy stamping! 

Special Request Birthday Card - Garden Hydrangea

 I was asked to make a birthday card with blue hydrangeas.  My mind immediately went to Altenew's Garden Hydrangea layering stamps and dies. 

This amazing stamp set includes four layering stamps for the blossoms and three layering stamps for the leaves.  I decided to pair it with the Altenew Icy Lake and Green Fields Crisp Dye Ink Collections.

I stamped the outline image of the hydrangea in Sapphire, the solid image in Iceberg, and the two detail images in Persian Blue and Ulramarine.  I used Evergreen for the leaf outline and stamped the solid image in Frayed Leaf and the detail image in Forest Glade.  Once my images were stamped, I used the coordinating Dies to die-cut them out, and I set these aside. 

Next, I took a panel of Neenah 80# White Card stock and trimmed it to 5.5” x 4.25”.  Using my ink-blending tool, I began to lay down some ink to the left side of the panel.  For this, I used Arctic.  Once I was satisfied with the color, I set this panel aside to dry,  Using another panel of the same size, I used one of the Dies from Stampin’ Up’s Quite Curvy Dies to die-cut the left side of the panel.  

After making sure that all of my card pieces were safely out of the way, I smooshed some Ultramarine ink onto a clear acrylic block and used a wet paint brush to pick up some ink.  I splattered this randomly over my die-cut card panel.  I learned the hard way to make sure my work surface is clear before splattering ink, as I realized that I don’t have as much control over where the ink ends up as I think I do.  

I had a strip of scrap white card stock on hand, so I trimmed it to the size that I wanted and I stamped the “It’s Your Day...’ sentiment from Stampin’ Up’s Happiest of Birthdays stamp set in Azurite.  I trimmed the ends into a banner and using the “direct to paper” technique, I added Azurite ink around the edges of the banner. 

I adhered my ink-blended panel to the card base, followed by my die-cut panel.  Once these were dry, I added the leaves and the blossoms. I popped the sentiment banner up on foam squares to give it some dimension. Lastly, I added a few clear sequins to give it a little bit of sparkle. 

Products Used;

• Recollections 110# White Card Stock
• Neenah 80# White Card Stock
• Altenew Garden Hydrangea Stamps and Dies
• Stampin’ Up Happiest of Birthdays Stamp Set
• Stampin’ Up Quite Curvy Dies
• Altenew Crisp Dye Inks:  Azurite, Ultramarine, Sapphire, Persian Blue, Iceberg, Arctic, Frayed Leaf, Forest Glade, Evergreen
• Tim Holtz Mini Ink Blending Tool
• Simon Says Stamp Clear Sequins

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Happy Stamping! 

All About Layering 2 - AECP Level 1

Today, I am sharing my project for the All About Layering 2 course for Altenew Academy’s Altenew Educator Certification Program.  As with All About Layering 1, I really loved this course, as I have a lot of layering stamps and I am really trying to master the use of them.  Nicole continues to share some really helpful tips and tricks for using the layering stamps, along with some amazing inspiration.  For this project, I took my inspiration from the beautiful layers used in Debby’s card in Lesson 3.  

I find myself dreaming of spring on a daily basis, so I wanted to make a card using a color palette that reflected that. For my project, I used the beautiful Build-A-Flower: Cora Louise Peony stamps and dies along with the Golden Sunset and Green Fields color families. This set has quickly become one of my all-time favorites, as it is truly suitable for any occasion. 

I started by stamping the outline image in Snapdragob Crisp Dye Ink. I decided against using black for the outline image, as I wanted a soft, dreamy look.  I stamped the solid image in Sunny, the detail image in Chamomile, and the center image in Marigold.  I actually stamped several flowers at one time, as I wasn’t sure how I was going to use them, but I did know that I wanted to layer them on my card front somehow. 

Next, I stamped the outline of the leaves in Evergreen Crisp Dye Ink, followed by the solid image in Frayed Leaf, and the detailed image in Forest Glade. Again, I stamped multiples of the leaves since I didn’t know how many I would need.  I then die-cut the images using the coordinating dies and set them aside. 

On a piece of 4.25” x 5.5” Neenah White 80 # card stock, I added Sunny ink to the lower portion using my ink-blending tool.  Again, I wanted a soft look, so I tried to use a light hand, and added ink gradually.  I know that I could have used colored card-stock to achieve a similar effect, but I really feel like the ink blending adds more depth.  

I took another 4.25” x 5.5” panel of white card stock and used a beautiful border die to die-cut the lower portion of the panel.  I then added my die-cut flowers and leaves (I did not adhere them yet) until I was happy with the placement.   I then snapped a photo so that I could refer back to it when I was ready to adhere the flowers.  I added a very light layer of Sunny ink using my ink-blending tool to add a bit of depth to the main card panel.  I adhered the die-cut panel to my ink-blended panel, and then I adhered the leaves and flowers using Bearly Art Precision Craft Glue.  

I adhered some gold card stock to a Foam Adhesive Sheet and die-cut it using the “Thanks” sentiment from the Signature Words Die Set.  I cut a panel of vellum down to 1” x 4.25” and I adhered my sentiment  to the vellum.  I applied a very light layer of glue to the vellum where it would be covered by the sentiment and adhered it to my card panel. Lastly, I added some Gold Gilded Gems to add a bit more dimension.  I placed the two largest dots where they would also help hold the vellum in place.  Once finished, I adhered my card panel to my 4.25” x 11” card base.

I cannot even tell you how happy I am with this card.  The photos really don’t do it justice!

Key Learnings;

• Practice makes perfect!  Each time I use the layering stamps, I get faster and better at lining up the images
• When ink-blending, a light hand is key.  You can add more ink, but you can’t remove it.  

Products used in this card:

• Recollections 110# Card Stock - White
• Neenah 80# Card Stock - White
• Recollections Gold Shimmer Card Stock
• Vellum
• Altenew Build-A-Flower: Cora Louise Peony stamps and dies
• Altenew Signature Words Die Set
• Stampin’ Up Quite Curvy Dies
• Altenew Crisp Dye Ink:  Sunny, Chamomile, Snapdragon, Marigold, Frayed Leaf, Forest Glade, Evergreen
• Tim Holts Mini Ink-Blending Tool
• Stampin’ Up Foam Adhesive Sheets
• Bearly Art Precision Craft Glue
• Stampin’ Up Gilded Gems

As always, thank you for stopping by.  I hope you found something to spark your creativity!  Please feel free to leave a comment!